Someone close to me has scleroderma. I didn't know much about the autoimmune disease before she was diagnosed, but I remember feeling a sense of …
Category: Autoimmune disease
What if gut-bacteria communities "remember" past antibiotic exposures?
The number of beneficial microbes inhabiting each of our intestines is on the order of the number of synaptic connections in the human brain. That's …
Why some autoimmune diseases go into remission during pregnancy
Though two healthy babies would have been enough for me, my two pregnancies yielded another gift: a break from a blood disorder I've been living …
Study highlights impact of rheumatoid arthritis on women's lives
A new survey sheds light on how rheumatoid arthritis affects female patients. Data collected from 1,958 women from seven countries, including the U.S., showed that …
Using stem cells to treat and cure immune diseases
Blood stem cell transplantation could be used to treat and cure difficult immunological disease if some technical challenges can be worked out.
Neural stimulator being developed to treat autoimmune disease
Technology Review recently reported on a nerve stimulator designed to rein in "the out-of-control immune system that triggers autoimmune diseases" like multiple sclerosis and lupus. …
Rates of rheumatoid arthritis rising in women
It's been known for years that autoimmune diseases affect more women than men. There are theories why - some of which are explored in a …
Lifetime cost of multiple sclerosis: $1.2 million per patient
In honor of World MS Day, the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation has released a report on the economic impact of the disabling autoimmune disease. Based …
Vitamin D levels associated with increased disability, brain atrophy in MS patients
Lower-than-normal vitamin D levels may be a contributing factor in the progression of physical disability and cognitive impairment in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), according …
Researchers map identical twins' genomes for cause of multiple sclerosis
A study on the genomes of identical female twins, one with multiple sclerosis (MS) and the other free of the disease, has yielded surprising results. …
Research shows why lupus may be more common in black, Asian people
When I did research for a Stanford Medicine magazine piece last year, I was amazed at the number of unsolved mysteries surrounding autoimmune disease. No …
Two different types of MS, one big step toward personalized medicine
Larry Steinman, MD, is so committed to multiple-sclerosis research that every time he Googles something his laptop mysteriously inserts the term "multiple sclerosis" into the …
Lou Gehrig on Lou Gehrig's disease and multiple sclerosis
One of my favorite blogs of late is Letters of Note, which is a self-described repository of "correspondence deserving of a wider audience." Today, Letters …
Childbirth may be beneficial for MS patients
While I was enjoying a lazy holiday and filling up on turkey and pumpkin pie, some interesting news broke about women with multiple sclerosis. Research …
Encouraging news for pregnant women with MS or epilepsy
Researchers know a fair amount about how pregnancy affects multiple sclerosis - in most cases, moms-to-be see an improvement in their symptoms - but there …
Adolescent obesity and MS may be linked
New research is showing a possible link between multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects 400,000 Americans, and obesity in adolescence. Using data from the …